Emotional, late-night blogging

I cannot sleep. So, of course, I'm blogging. My past experience has taught me that writing during the wee hours of the night/morning never really turns out well. But, alas, here I am. I feel like a million words and phrases are running through my head and I don't know what to do with them. Perhaps that's the curse of someone who writes for a job. Sadly though, I don't have anything interesting in my life right now to write about. So now would be the time to close your browser window if you're expecting to read something exciting.

I am working on a freelance project for the company I left about nine months ago. They needed some help and I was feeling up to the task. It is really fun and really stressful. I am sleep deprived and my brain is fried. Please consider this my apology for the phone call I forgot to return, the text I forgot to reply to, and the meeting I accidentally slept through on Sunday. I will be back online mentally in approximately 3-4 weeks. I see dead . . . lines.

I am feeling really grateful lately for good friends. God has blessed me far beyond what I deserve in the friend department. Lately, I have received phone calls, texts, or visits from friends at times when I have needed it most, and they had no idea! I'm grateful for friends who act on the thoughts that pop into their minds. I have benefited greatly from it. Because, you know, life is just hard sometimes. For everyone. Even those of us who like to pretend that we don't have bad days. We do. We just ugly cry ourselves to sleep and wake up the next morning to a breakfast of peanut butter M&Ms. These friends are of all ages and all walks of life, and I love them each dearly. Some are new and some are long-time friends. I love that they have a million other things going on in their lives but still make me feel like a priority. Because really, it doesn't take much. A phone call, a short visit, a thoughtful text, following through with plans, asking about someone because you genuinely care. Everyone needs at least one friend like this. How did I ever get so lucky to have multiple? Yeah, I have some crappy friends, too. I think they're just part of the package deal.

God loves me. And he's taking care of me with the help of my family and friends. I am ridiculously blessed. Anytime I feel frustrated with my ninety year-old body I have to laugh. Everything else in my life is so wonderful that I had to have something for a trial. I'm not trying to be one of those people who blog all about their "perfect" life. I make fun of those people and my life is far from perfect. For instance, I begin sentences with prepositions. Also, I'm not sure whether or not I actually brushed my teeth today.  I have the same everyday problems we all have. I just have a ridiculously wonderful husband, a loving, supportive family, and friends who are answers to my prayers. What more could someone need, right? (Besides some new boots for fall.)

On the eve of my twenty- . . . uh, third birthday

Wow, I can't believe I'm already going to be twenty-three.

My close friends and family know what a big deal birthdays are to me. More specifically, my birthday. I whole-heartedly embrace the birthday month approach with a special focus on the birthday week. It has been a pretty sweet week. I love spoiling myself and letting others do the same as they see fit. It's the little things . . . like when I was frosting the brownies the other day, I was going to hand the spatula over to my husband to lick. But then I came to my senses. "Birthday week," I thought to myself. And we all know what happened next. (Except for my husband who had no idea there was ever a frosting spatula to be had.) And I slept in a day or two this week, took extra long showers, had a Coke, spent time with some close friends, had my hair done, and watched Leave it to Beaver whenever I felt the urge. All of this and it's not even my birthday. I can't wait to see what I have in store for myself tomorrow on my actual birthday.

This year for my birthday, I got a house. At least that's what my husband keeps telling me. And I tell him that I can't wait to see how he plans on topping that next year. Tomorrow we will have been in the house for two weeks. It has been an exciting, tiring, frustrating, and blessings-filled two weeks. We feel really lucky to be in this house in an area that we really love. It's not perfect, but it's wonderful. Being the planners that we are, we've been planning for and looking at houses for two years. And, just like everything else in my life, I had plan A in mind all along and ended up with plan B, which is exactly what we needed. It's amazing how quickly this house has felt like a home. But maybe that's just because it's something I share with the person I love where other people we love come and visit.

I love yard-work husband. I see him tooting around on his lawnmower, digging all around with the shovel. I hear power drills and roto-tillers running on evenings and all day Saturday. I love it. And he does, too, which is great. It reminds me of my dad, and for some creepy reason, I love that my husband reminds me of my dad. Now I just need to get him some Hawaiian shirts and a straw, wide-brimmed hat for the summer and the resemblance will be uncanny.

I'm actually having fun working on the inside of the house. I hate decorating; it stresses me out. But the place is getting really clean and organized. And every once in a while I find myself able to buy a decor item and place it without too much stress.

The biggest problem in organizing the home is trying to figure out what to do with all of my books. I think I counted over ten boxes of books when we moved. And then . . . there are all the boxes of my teaching stuff. More and more boxes of other books.

As I was packing the books at our apartment, I came across this book, coincidentally during the same week of Maurice Sendak's death.

I love this book, always have. But I really love this particular copy of the book. This was the first book that a teacher of mine ever gave to me. It was Mrs. Casteel in first grade. I loved her so much. I still have such vivid memories of her face, her clothes, her words, and how she made me feel (and that one time I got in trouble for talking when all I was doing was telling the people by me to stop talking). In my mind, she was the world's greatest teacher. 

She gave me this book as a reward for reaching my goal of reading 100 books . . . I think that was in one term. I don't remember for sure. But for the sake of making me seem like a brilliant six year-old, let's say it was in one term. I read that book over and over and over and each time I read it, I would remember the pride I felt in reaching my goal. I imagined that my teacher had gone to great lengths to purchase and choose this book for me. Though, after teaching school myself, I realize it was probably a freebie book she received from the book orders. But again, let's choose to remember the glorified version of the story. 

I love Where the Wild Things Are. I love it because it reminds me that I love reading, school, teachers, and the positive impact that teachers can have on children. Mr. Sendak may have been sick of the book and sick of being known for the book, but I love it. I love books, all ten+ boxes of them.

Friday, Friday!

(I know, I hate that song, too.)

Even the unemployed can appreciate a good Friday. 

Especially one that is filled with best friend-matching fingernails,

 matching toenails,

and a Barbie smile.

Days of my life

Now that I have a lot of free time, I've been working as a substitute teacher for some of my friends and former co-workers. It helps me feel like my brain isn't turning into mush. And it's great because I hardly ever have to sit down, which is what I try to avoid most of all. But mostly, it's been really, really fun. It really makes me homesick for teaching. But this way I get the teacher fix without having to sit for hours planning the curriculum or dealing with parents.

In case you haven't noticed, I don't use my last name on my blog. I don't even use my husband's name. It's a small effort to try to maintain some sense of privacy from would-be serial killers. If you do know my last name, you know that it's not very common and that it might sound silly to some people . . . some very young people. Last week when I entered a second-grade classroom, I introduced myself and the entire class burst into laughter. Sadly, I had the same reaction when my now-husband first introduced himself to me.

Things that I miss about working in an young elementary classroom:
1. The calling out of "teacher, teacher" whenever someone wants your attention.
2. The line up of kids waiting to hug you at the end of the day.
3. The boys in that line up who wind up to give you a super hard high-five slap.
4. Pretending that the high five really hurt your hand.
5. The copycat stories. One student raised her hand last week to tell me that I remind her of her aunt. Then consequent responses from multiple students followed. I reminded someone of their mom, their cousin, their sister, and so on.
6. How every unfamiliar noise kids hear sounds like a fart to them. This is followed by endless giggling.
7. When talking about the north and south poles of the earth, Santa is inevitably brought up.
8. Kids aren't afraid to dance in music class.
9. Young kids grab my hand to get my attention before telling me about something they have that's contagious.
10. "Are you a teenager?" I always say yes.


I've also been filling up a lot of my time lately with baking. This too keeps me busy while not having to sit down. But I think I'm going to hang my chef's hat up for a while. I have wasted one too many bags of M&Ms or chocolate chips on cookies that go flat. And you can't give flat cookies away (though I tried), so you just end up keeping them all and eating your weight in flat cookies. So I'm taking a break because I'm a quitter. Kind of always have been.

As evidence to back the theory that I'm a quitter, I'm going to quit this blog post with out a concluding paragraph.

Rabbit Eyes are Watching You

Have you seen this?! Have you SEEN this?!

It's no secret that I am a fan of Cadbury Mini Eggs. And I'd be lying if I said this was the first Cadbury purchase I've made this year. Or even the fourth. But that's not the news. First, a back story.

I live maybe a half mile away from a Walmart. I grocery shop there. So sue me, hippies. Actually, don't sue me; at least not until I've had time to brush up on Legally Blonde. Anyhow, so long as I've shopped at this Walmart (years) they have NEVER, I repeat, never carried the Cadbury Mini eggs. And just to be sure no one's pulling a fast one on me, I scour the store each visit during Cadbury season. All of this is strange because in the Cadbury '09 season, I spotted the candies at the Clinton Walmart. And in the Cadbury '11 season, I found the candies at the Layton Walmart. [Minds are no doubt blown at this point.] 

So today, as I was perusing through the seasonal candy aisle at my local Walmart, a familiar purple bag with yellow lettering caught my eye. And then it was made very clear to me, as a beam of light shone down from the heavens onto . . . a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs. In my Walmart? Could it be? Yes. It was true. I picked the bag up, and to my delight, it was no ordinary bag of candies. It was a ONE POUND+ BAG. If I'm not mistaking, I heard angels singing. Naturally I scooped it up and carefully placed it in my cart. And then I looked back to the shelf where I'd found the bag . . . and here's the funny thing, the space that had originally held Cadbury candies was now mysteriously filled with candies of the Reeses variety. Strange, I thought. But not unheard of. So, on I went with my grocery shopping . . . all the while grinning because of my discovery.

But here's the thing. Once I got the bag home, I noticed something. Has that rabbit always been on the packaging? And is it a little eery-looking to anyone else? Does it seem like maybe that rabbit had one too many Cadburys before that photo was taken. I swear that rabbit is NOT on the other bags, but I honestly can't remember what the smaller bag looks like now. I have pound-bad blindness. I see the whole world in pound bags now. But what's even stranger is that I swear the rabbit's eyes follow me when I walk around the room. It's as if he's saying, "I, and I alone, know how many calories of chocolate you have consumed today. You answer to me now." And then I just feel sad. Chocolatey over-dosed sad. I can't help but wonder if the FDA or some other government organization mandated that creepy rabbits be placed on all pound bags of Easter candy to help subconsciously regulate the caloric and sugar intake of people who purchase the candy. I mean, this is the only logical explanation.

And so now that I have this knowledge, I need to act. I know now what I need to do. I need to drive a few extra miles to Smith's to buy the smaller bags of candies sans the creepy rabbit and enjoy my Eater candy. Because, hey, Easter only comes around once a year.

[That awkward moment when you realize that you just wrote an entire blog post about candy. I need a puppy.]

To Halle, with love

Dear Halle Cakes,

Last weekend you slept in my bed with me to keep me company while the hubs was out of town. For some reason I think it's cute when you kick me all through the night. But I get angry when the hubs does it. Also, when you woke me up at 4 am to watch "Tare Bears" (Care Bears), I was so happy, which is really uncharacteristic of me. I love sleep. But sitting up wide awake, laughing with you and your sippy cup and continually asking, "Where's that peent (pink) guy?" will forever be one of my favorite memories. I've never enjoyed being awake at 4 am quite so much. Thanks for being so cute and so sweet to me. I hope you never grow out of wanting to call "Meggy" everyday. I love you so much and I hope you never grow up.

You've been conferenced!

Last weekend was what we Mormons like to call "Conference Weekend." Twice a year, on the first weekends in April and October, members of the church gather physically and virtually to hear words of council from our church leaders. We leave our horns off for this special occasion, and the men usually only take their favorite wife. But, nonetheless, it is awesome. The topics of the talks range from the importance of family, to ways that we can better serve one another. If you are curious about General Conference and would like to learn more, you can find the talks here.

As an aside, it was ten years ago Sunday that I woke up from a drugged state in a hospital recovery room with a few inches less of my intestines. General Conference was playing in the background as I came to. And each Conference Weekend, I'm reminded of that part of my life and how lucky and blessed I've been. I've known great doctors, surgeons, a great mother to take care of me, and a loving Savior to help me through this part of my life. I can't believe how well I've gotten off and how normal I've been able to live (depending on what you consider normal, I guess).

So, when you have a few minutes to spare and are in need of some uplifting words in your life, check out the Conference site.

When American history gets even more awesome . . .

I can't help but LOVE this video. I'm working on a unit about Revolutionary America right now and came across this in my Google searches. Students in a classroom would love this! And so will you.

Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration from Soomo Publishing on Vimeo.

A House Full of Estrogen

I had a lot of fun growing up in my family. But my poor brother and dad has to deal with four women chock-full of estrogen. But aren't we cute? At least we have some redeeming qualities.

Wanted: Chocolate

Attention concerned citizens:

Rumors are circulating that there are now Cadbury hard-shell mini Valentine's candies being sold, as of January 2011. The location of these candies is not known. Many nearby retailers have been questioned, to no avail. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of these candies, please contact your local Cadbury consumer authorities, aka me. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated. Once the candies have been apprehended, we will all feel a little bit safer in our homes.

Pumpkin spice, and everything nice

My parents live maybe a mile away from where I work. I go there every day to eat my lunch and any treats my mom might have lying around. Today when I got there, no one was home. I walked in to the empty house. The temperature was just a little chilly in the house and it smelled like holiday. My mom must have had a pumpkin or some sort of holiday sent burning. But it made me excited for all of the holidays coming up and all the of the traditions that make the holidays what they are.

Tasty's donuts purchased each Halloween afternoon . . . some sort of chili or soup bowl for dinner . . . the black witch basket that hold that candy and sees fewer and fewer trick-or-treaters each year (which is good for me) . . . all the wee ones coming by grandma's after they're done trick-or-treating and acting shy in costume . . . chocolate hangovers . . . doorbell ringing every few minutes while I'm usually still putting my costume together . . .

which leads to

Pumpkin pie . . . mom's homemade rolls that Hollie sometimes makes now . . . slush! . . . a giant turkey cooking all day . . . carrot dip . . . dad saying something sentimental about how we have so much to be grateful for while everyone else just wants to eat . . . one brother-in-law that likes the obligatory cranberries . . . Marcie's green bean casserole or Jello mix . . . Emily's broccoli salad (seen at various holidays) . . . football . . . bring out the Little Tikes table for the kidlets . . . kidlets laughing and yelling as loud as they can, none of them concerned with eating . . . lots of food on the floor . . . that white table cloth that only comes out once a year with the fancy salt and pepper shakers . . .

which leads to

A week-long project of getting ALL the Christmas decorations up . . . Norm's every-other-year Christmas lights policy . . . Cadbury Christmas candy . . . Santa's Marching band . . . the train around the tree that nephews watch for hours . . . Grandma's hand-knitted stockings . . . more slush! . . . frantic shopping on Christmas Eve and wanted to shoot every person you come into contact with in public . . . the snowman tree . . . stress . . . Norm's famous scrambled eggs for breakfast . . . seeing all the kidlets hopped-up on toy excitement and not even noticing you've come to see them . . . toffee . . . neighbors delivering so many goodies you think you might pop . . . The Little Match Girl . . . The Carpenters, a Christmas Portrait . . . tired brothers and sisters who stayed up late to help Santa put things together . . . Using Santa's elves as leverage to get kids to do whatever you want them to do . . . and so much more.

How weird is it that I won't be waking up at that house I know so well for Christmas anymore? I'd be lying if I didn't say that it makes me sad to think about it. I know I wasn't there last year for Christmas, but I had only been married a few weeks and that month of my life is all a blur.

Agent Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde

I so often underestimate the power of shaving my legs. It's almost as if the hairy-legged Megan and the smooth-legged Megan are two completely different people. What? You've had a horrible day at work, your head hurts, your makeup just didn't stay fresh, those pants make you feel fat? I know just the remedy. Spend five minutes (or more, depending on the leg hair length) on yourself and shave those legs. Suddenly you're that tall glass of water you've wanted to be all week. You're ten pounds lighter, your pants fit better, and everyone in the world was just given a puppy. It's almost as if you were a contestant on that one show that's not on the air anymore—Extreme Makeover: Self Edition. Hello, world. Feel my legs. And then, just when you thought your day couldn't possibly get any better . . . clean sheets! This is how I was born to live—prickle free.

Green with envy

How much is too much to pay for a pair of shoes?? What if I told you that they just might change my life and would no longer leave me wondering shoes I should wear on St. Patrick's Day?

Today I Feel Silly (And Other Moods That Make My Day)

Yesterday I wrote an angry post. But guess what, I never clicked "Post." Wouldn't you like to know what it's about?? (Sucker.) But I feel the need to reassure you that I am a very happy and often kind person. It's just that writing is such an emotional outlet for me. So, lucky you, you get to see so many of my heated or sarcastic posts.

In an effort to show you how much I like puppy dog tails and rainbows, I am posting two of my favorite commercials that scream happy.

I do not endorse any particular make of car. But I do endorse more creative car commercials like these:

Don't Quit Your Day Job, Mr. Maestro

Shopping Fail

Just thought I'd let you know that Walgreen's in Kaysville is completely sold out of Cadbury Mini Eggs ... for the season. Or so I've heard.

2009 Year in Review

Special Olympic Utah Winter Games

"Just add water" boyfriend...

.... who my nephews had really high hopes for.

Cinderella revival

Dinner with my friends

Recognize the guy pulling the awesome face? Yeah, that's my then-friend turned husband.

I celebrated the Holi Festival of Colors by having one single handful of chalk tossed right into my eyes, then rubbing my face on my friend's shirt.

Date nights with the Wee Ones!

Best concert yet, featuring Mat Kearney...

... and Keane

Oh, yeah. I spent a good chunk of my summer in Europe.

I went here....

Swam in here....

Slept here (with many strangers)...

Toured here....

Was ECSTATIC about going here...

Even more excited about eating this...

Strolled by here....

And returned home to celebrate my birthday with friends like these.

Weber River tubing excursion and near-death experience

Antelope by Moonlight

Lots and lots of giggling with this girl

My first "date" with my friend... who is now my husband

I invited him to hear the Symphony play at Sundance

The first bouquet of flowers I received from a boy that didn't send my running...

though I thought about it briefly

Summer nights at Deer Valley with the Utah Symphony

Engagement party in Oregon with T.M.I.M.'s family

Where we were spoilt beyond belief and received these awesome hats

Indoor surfing on T.M.I.M's golden birthday

Wedding dress shopping

I got a new niece!

I GOT MARRIED to my best friend and the love of my life. I never have been so happy.

[Insert wedding pictures that are on husband's 

computer at a later time]

See our friend Lindsay's blog for some of our photos of the big day.

My long-coveted Kitchen Aide mixer

My first Christmas as a married woman... my husband and I gave each other the same gift

So far, so good, eh?!